Preparing our students for reality: should we really be encouraging so many performance degrees?

I am a strong advocate of all undergraduate music students being the best possible performers. However, I wonder, are we really doing them a favor encouraging so many to be what is generally referred to as "performance majors"? We then continue with this encouragement by suggesting they pursue their master's in performance or the ultimate--the D.M.A. These students hone their craft to become outstanding performers by striving for technical perfection, understanding stylistic nuances and interpretation and memorizing excessive amounts of repertoire. For those who actually receive their D.M.A. after several recitals, lecture-recitals and demanding comprehensive written and oral exams have they really been prepared for a career in music?

Let's be honest. Many pianists will be supremely grateful to get a college teaching job where they may teach applied piano, as well as many different courses in piano, including (what I think can be the most challenging)--class piano. As Janice Meyer wrote in her article "Group Teaching in the Real World," "Many of these pianists who get these jobs have never set foot in a piano lab, faced a classroom of students, suffered the humiliation of headset hair or the pain of a headset headache." This, of course, is for the lucky ones who want--and actually get--college teaching positions. Hopefully, at the same time, their schedules will allow them to continue practicing and maintaining their performance level.

The Question

So, I must ask all of us in academia to truly answer the question: are we really preparing our students for the true and total life of being a musician? We all know that most of us want and need to do many different professional musical activities as part of our career. Yet, how many of these activities were we really prepared for by our institutions of higher learning?

Yes, we can be successful without lots of training, but couldn't we serve our students even better if we took what we know about the reality of life as a musician and incorporated it into our curriculum? I believe we need to change the emphasis of the undergraduate music student to incorporate courses that will enable them to be a successful musician, not just a performer. We need to include in our courses topics that will help students with the numerous aspects of earning a living as a musician--be it as a solo performer, collaborative artist, member of an orchestra, teacher of all levels (preschool through adult), arts management positions and so forth. Students also must be given some knowledge of the business and marketing aspects of being a musician. What will they be doing when they graduate? Will pianists really be performing their standard jury of a Bach Prelude and Fugue, Beethoven Sonata, Chopin Ballade and Prokofiev Sonata every semester of their lives? Highly unlikely, but even those top performers, probably one day, will perform in community concert series, teach students of all ages in groups or private lessons, accompany, adjudicate, play chamber music, belong to teacher organizations and present workshops. They maybe even will write books and, perhaps, be asked to write articles for music journals. They, therefore, need training about how to talk to an audience about music, address a group of music teachers in an organized, informative and entertaining manner and have the business sense to run a teaching studio. They need pedagogy instruction on teaching private and group lessons at all ages and levels and also the knowledge to write and talk about pedagogical subjects.

So what should we be doing differently in our curricula? In addition to performing, I'd like to see us incorporate more topics that prepare students for the practical parts of our profession and the other aspects of their lives that will be their reality. I must stress again, in no way do I want students to be any less prepared as performers. I just want them more prepared to be successful, well-rounded, "business savvy" musicians who also are outstanding performers. I would therefore like to advocate that students be called piano (or any other instrument) majors instead of performance majors. We changed to this concept at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, allowing students to choose a different emphasis--pedagogy, performance and accompanying. I would like to suggest that all piano majors (of course, this can relate to all instruments and music education and sacred music degrees) should be given the opportunity to have experience dealing with the following areas. I will outline them as courses, but naturally they can be integrated into existing courses, some of which I have been doing in my classes at Westminster. For those of you who believe you already can barely get through the minimum in your courses (as I often do), please read these suggestions with an open mind toward integrating some of these ideas.

Business and Studio Policies

This course would teach students how to effectively advertise and promote themselves as teachers, performers, collaborative musicians and so forth. Subjects to be addressed could include:

1. Designing promotional materials, studio policy and newsletters

2. Legal issues of self-employment

3. Zoning issues

4. Establishing fees and schedules

5. Taxes for the self-employed

Pedagogical Sociodrama 

Students will be trained to role-play so they may experience different perspectives and practice alternate responses to typical situations musicians might encounter:

A. How to motivate better practicing

B. Preparing for auditions and competitions

C. Dealing with learning problems and disabilities

D. Addressing psychological issues of different ages, especially those challenging adolescent years

E. Handling other possible scenarios such as dealing with divorced parents where music lessons and practice are an issue

F. The different needs of gifted Students

G. "Burn-out"--the teacher and/or the student

H. Preparing and presenting yourself for a college or job interview

Relating to the Business World and Music Organizations

This course would teach students how to establish good relationships with music and instrument dealers, teaching organizations and arts management groups. There are many professional and financial advantages our students should know about. How about understanding the basic mechanics and structure of the instrument? Yes, pianists do need to know how to get a pencil out of the piano! (Think of the money you'll save if you don't have to call your piano tuner every time that happens!)

Students would learn about music organizations whose affiliation would be beneficial. If they learn about MTNA and actually attend a national conference, they could learn about many of the business issues I've addressed in this article by attending a Professional Studio Saturday seminar.

We need to keep promoting excellence in performance and encouraging our students to perform as much as possible. But at this point I would like to welcome readers to think about other areas you wish had been addressed in your professional training. Yes, knowing how to play the "bebung" in Op. 110, dealing with the technical challenges of "Gaspard" and learning how to execute the improvisatory section of "The Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue" all are important. But, let's also think about some of the practical aspects of being a musician and help our students become successful by being well equipped for the reality of our profession.

Ingrid Jacobson Clarfield, NCTM, professor of piano at Westminster Choir College, is an active performer, students have won numerous awards at state, national and international competitions.